ke up for by means of double or treble
ramparts.*

* The town of Tela had three containing walls, that of
Shingisha had four, and that of Pitura two.

[Illustration: 198.jpg THE BRINGING OF HEADS AFTER A BATTLE]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Layard.

These fortifications must have resembled those of the Syrian towns; the
walls were broad at the base, and, to prevent scaling, rose to a height
of some thirty or forty feet: there were towers at intervals of a
bowshot, from which the archers could seriously disconcert parties
making attacks against any intervening points in the curtain wall; the
massive gates were covered with raw hides, or were plated with metal
to resist assaults by fire and axe, while, as soon as hostilities
commenced, the defence was further completed by wooden scaffolding.
Places thus fortified, however, at times fell almost without an attempt
at resistance; the inhabitants, having descended into the lowlands to
rescue their crops from the Assyrians, would be disbanded, and, while
endeavouring to take refuge within their ramparts, would be pursued by
the enemy, who would gain admittance with them in the general disorder.
If the town did not fall into their hands by some stroke of good
fortune, they would at once attempt, by an immediate assault, to terrify
the garrison into laying down their arms.*

* Assurnazirpal, in this fashion, took the town of Pitura in
two days, in spite of its strong double ramparts.

The archers and slingers led the attack by advancing in couples till
they were within the prescribed distance from the walls, one of the two
taking careful aim, while the other sheltered his comrade behind his
round-topped shield. The king himself would sometimes alight from his
chariot and let fly his arrows in the front rank of the archers, while
a handful of resolute men would rush against the gates of the town
and attempt either to break them down or set them alight with torches.
Another party, armed with stout helmets and quilted jerkins, which
rendered them almost invulnerable to the shower of arrows or stones
poured on them by the besieged, would attempt to undermine the walls by
means of levers and pick-axes, and while thus engaged would be protected
by mantelets fixed to the face of the walls, resembling in shape the
shields of the archers. Often bodies of men would approach the suburbs
of the city and endeavour to obtain access to the ramparts from the
roo